Famous Boxing Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Boxing poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous boxing poems. These examples illustrate what a famous boxing poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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Grotty And The Quarryman

...alled him Sykesy" and so it was, Sweet Agony,

Written in prison by one Paul Sykes, her most

Famous inamorato, amateur boxing champion

Of all England, twenty years inside, fly-pitcher

Supreme, king of spielers; how she hated you

For beating her, getting it all down on paper,

Even making money for doing it, "That bastard

Cheated me, writing lying filth about me and

I never saw a penny!" she’d mutter, side-mouthed,

To her pals.

But that book, that bloody book, was no p...Read more of this...
by Tebb, Barry


Gunner Joe

...attle begun 
Was to take cannon balls out o' basket 
And shove 'em down front end o' gun. 

One day him and Nelson were boxing, 
The compass, like sailor lads do. 
When 'Ardy comes up wi' a spyglass, 
And pointing, says "'Ere, take a screw!" 

They looked to were 'Ardy were pointing, 
And saw lots o' ships in a row. 
Joe says abrupt like but respectful, 
"'Oratio lad, yon's the foe." 

'What say we attack 'em?' says Nelson, 
Says Joe 'Nay lad, not today.' 
And 'Ardy says, 'Ay...Read more of this...
by Edgar, Marriott

In Harm's Way

...nd Wayne any day

Saturday matin?es with Margaret Gardener still hold sway

As my memory veers backwards this temperate Boxing Day-

Westerns and war films and a blurred Maigret,

Coupled with a worn-out sixties Penguin Mallarm?-

How about that mix for a character trait?

Try as I may I can’t get my head round the manifold virtues

Of Geraldine Monk or either Riley

Poetry has to have a meaning, not just patterns on a page,

Vertical words and snips of scores just make me ra...Read more of this...
by Tebb, Barry

Olympic Granny

...he high jump,
And a champ at hammer throwing,
Magnificent in marathons,
Remarkable at rowing.
She beats the best at boxing.
At the pole vault she is peerless.
Her fencing is the finest;
She is positively fearless.
She’s masterful at basketball,
She truly rules the court,
And equally incredible
At every other sport.
But what we find astonishing
And something of a shocker
Is how she wins all contests
With her wheelchair and her walker.

 --Kenn Nesbitt

Copyr...Read more of this...
by Nesbitt, Kenn

Saltbush Bills Second Flight

...e appears, 
He'll stand no chance with a bloke like me, what's lived on the game for years; 
For he's maybe learnt in a boxing school, and sparred for a round or so, 
But I've fought all hands in a ten-foot ring each night in a travelling show; 
They earned a pound if they stayed three rounds, and they tried for it every night. 
In a ten-foot ring! Oh, that's the game that teaches a bloke to fight, 
For they'd rush and clinch -- it was Dublin Rules, and we drew no colour line...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton


Take It Easy

...When I was boxing in the ring
In 'Frisco back in ninety-seven,
I used to make five bucks a fling
To give as good as I was given.
But when I felt too fighting gay,
And tried to be a dinger-donger,
My second, Mike Muldoon. would say:
"Go easy, kid; you'll stay the longer."

When I was on the Yukon trail
The boys would warn, when things were bleakest,
The weakest link's t...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

The Everlasting Mercy

...t the air mingle and clang 
And beat the walls a muffled bang, 
And stifle back and boom and bay 
Like muffled peals on Boxing Day, 
And then surge up and gather shape, 
And spread great pinions and escape; 
And each great bird of clanging shrieks 
O Fire! Fire, from iron beaks. 
My shoulders cracked to send around 
Those shrieking birds made out of sound 
With news of fire in their bills. 
(They heard 'em plain beyond Wall Hills.). 

Up go the winders, out come heads, 
I hea...Read more of this...
by Masefield, John

What man, what hero (QUEMN VIRUM AUT HEROA)

...With deadly bow.
     Alcides too shall be my theme,
       And Leda's twins, for horses be,
     He famed for boxing; soon as gleam
       Their stars at sea,
     The lash'd spray trickles from the steep,
       The wind sinks down, the storm-cloud flies,
     The threatening billow on the deep
       Obedient lies.
     Shall now Quirinus take his turn,
       Or quiet Numa, or the state
     Proud Tarquin held, or Cato stern,
       By death made great?
...Read more of this...
by Horace,

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